{{Unreferenced, date=December 2021 Hartley Film Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to cultivation and support of documentaries on world religions and spirituality. This non-profit organization supports filmmakers through seed grants with fiscal sponsorship. The foundation is located in Westport, Connecticut, and has a staff of two and board of eleven members.

Background

Hartley Film Foundation, incorporated in 1971, was the vision of founder Elda E. Hartley. She had a long career in filmmaking. Elda married filmmaker Irving Hartley, with whom she partnered to make newsreels and travel films from the 1930s through the 1960s. Some of the images that now illustrate American history were shot by Irving Hartley, including the explosion of the Hindenburg zeppelin in 1937. He and Elda also produced a series of Pan Am travelogues, a prototype for travel shows on television today. Elda worked as North Carolina State's Director of Visual Education and, in the 1930s, she helped found the Documentary Film Association, which exhibited at the first New York World's Fair. Elda's vision of the future foundation began in 1965, while on a vacation tour to Japan with

Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was an English writer, speaker and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Japanese, Chinese and Indian traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu ...

. She decided to make a film on Zen and Watts volunteered to narrate the film. At the age of 56, Elda Hartley was on her way to producing documentary films on world religions and spirituality – the beginning of her third career. She completed films about the world's spiritual and religious traditions (including documentaries such as ''Requiem for a Faith'' and ''The Sufi Way''),and collaborated with

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard C ...

, Joseph Campbell, Edgar Mitchell,

Jean Houston Jean Houston (born 10 May 1937) is an American author involved in the human potential movement. Along with her husband, Robert Masters, she co-founded the Foundation for Mind Research. Biography Early life and education Houston was born in New ...

Ram Dass Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and author. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been ...

Huston Smith Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was an influential scholar of religious studies in the United States, He authored at least thirteen books on world's religions and philosophy, and his book about comparative religion, ' ...

and Larry Dossey, among others. Hartley often said that the goal of her work was greater than simply making films, and so she founded the Hartley Film Foundation. She died on her 90th birthday, March 6, 2001. Hartley Film Foundation continues to honor her legacy through its support of established filmmakers who travel the world to document stories that further global and interfaith understanding. The Foundation strives to reach the widest possible audience with films such as ''Hiding and Seeking'', ''A Jihad for Love'', ''Love Free or Die'', ''God's Next Army'', ''Praying with Lior'', ''Taking Root'' and ''Little White Lies''. The non-profit foundation sells on its Web site those documentaries that fulfill Hartley's mission and message. Hartley sponsors the Full Frame Inspiration Award annually at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. The foundation also provides audience outreach consultation support to its fiscal sponsees through Active Voice, communications specialists who use media as a catalyst for social change.

References

Baraka (film) ''Baraka'' is a 1992 American non-narrative documentary film directed by Ron Fricke. The film is often compared to ''Koyaanisqatsi'', the first of the ''Qatsi'' films by Godfrey Reggio for which Fricke served as cinematographer. It was photogr ...

Karen Armstrong Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944) is a British author and commentator of Irish Catholic descent known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and ...

External links

Official site for Hartley Film Foundation
Film organizations in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Connecticut 501(c)(3) organizations